Tag Archives: bonding

Sometimes, I Really Don’t Get It

I try to be hip, I really do try to understand where my teenagers are coming from and maintain a sense of humor, a sense of balance, and some sort of detached curiosity–but the truth is, there are those times when no matter how hard I try to be hip and understanding, I really don’t get it… Sometimes, I admit I am absolutely horrified and petrified at the things my teens say and do–no matter how relaxed and savvy I try to be, there are jokes I don’t get, actions that seem so strange and foreign to me and I … Continue reading →

Find Reasons to Laugh Together EVERY Day

I know there are all sorts of things that make for a strong, bonded family—but I truly believe that if you can find a way to have a laugh together every day, everyone will be healthier, happier, and you will feel more connected as a family. I know that there are huge families out there where it is difficult to get everyone in the same room at the same time, let alone share a laugh—but maybe if you can break it into groups, or make it a goal as a parent to share some humor with each child daily, you … Continue reading →

Children Who Can’t Trust

When an infant has a need (such as the need for nourishment) which is not met, there is a big emotional response. That’s because the stakes are so great. If the child isn’t nourished, he will die. So he makes his needs known rather dramatically, crying and thrashing about. If this emotional response eventually brings him the sustenance he needs, he begins learning to trust. He discovers that when he is vulnerable, someone in his life will respond lovingly. As the child grows and develops, trust continues to build as the cycle repeats over and over again. For example, the … Continue reading →

Lingering Over Lunch

One of the things I love about my kids being off from school on winter break is that we can carve out a little time to do things together—maybe not as much time as we used to have when they actually WANTED to spend more time with old mom, but a lunch here and a movie there, or a little shopping trip and I can be satisfied for quite a while. Yesterday, with the weather cold and drizzly and threatening snow, one of my daughters and I went to the Olive Garden and managed to spend over two hours lingering … Continue reading →

The Last of the Thanksgiving Turkey

My children have not always been soup eaters. As youngsters, they would have the occasional bowl of canned chicken noodle soup but that was about it. Now that they are older teenagers, their tastes are “maturing” as well and now a big pot of soup is likely to get scarfed down. In fact, it felt strangely ritualistic and almost “cultural” to make the big pot of turkey vegetable noodle soup this past weekend and share the last of this year’s Thanksgiving turkey with my teens… Even though we’ve had our Christmas decorations up for over a week and are definitely … Continue reading →

Are You Happy with the Level of Connection?

What do you wish was going better with your child? I think as parents we often think that our kids go through phases and we just have to take things as they come. Often life gets in the way and we start to feel like we are losing our connection with our child or that we don’t really know or understand what is going on and we just have to live with it. We don’t! If there are areas in your relationship with your child that can stand improvement, you can identify them and make efforts to bring about some … Continue reading →

Building Loyalty in a Single Parent Family

Single parent families can feel fragmented—especially if children actually go back and forth and live in two homes. Of course, most of us want our children to feel cherished and attached to both sides of the family which can create some problems when it comes to creating a solid, cohesive sense of family loyalty. There are things we parents can do, however, to help build a sense of loyalty and belonging in a single parent family… Our children need to feel as though they belong and most of us want to create a sense of “loyalty” to the family unit. … Continue reading →

Memories Can be Made at the Strangest Times

My two daughters and I spent the better part of the day at our local Festival of Trees, and then did a little shopping and had lunch. It is strange now doing things with my nearly grown daughters since they are, well, nearly grown. We decided that since this had been the first time we’d done the Festival of Trees together in a couple years, we should commemorate it by buying an ornament for our tree. It took the bulk of our outing time trying to find and agree on the perfect ornament… It is strange how some of the … Continue reading →

The Return of Lost Traditions

We have written some here in the Parenting blog about family traditions—changing them, establishing them, letting some of them go. As a parent who has seen my children grow from infancy to nearly adult-hood, I am finding it interesting that some of the family and holiday traditions I said goodbye to a couple of years ago when my kids were in the throes of adolescence, have started to return… My eldest daughter and I were chatting this morning on our post-dawn commute—making some plans for the weekend. It was actually a combination of finding out what her social plans were, … Continue reading →

Playing Computer and Video Games Together

My daughters have been teaching me how to play SIMS 2 on the computer. We had a dreadfully wet and rainy weekend this past weekend–nonstop downpours with dark clouds and blustery leaves. No one wanted to go outside even to get a jug of milk. So once we’d watched all the movies, my almost-eighteen-year-old got out the computer games and the three of us built our homes and families and I struggled along to learn how to play. By all practical standards, we might all three be considered “too old” for such activities. I have certainly never been one to … Continue reading →